


A Simpler Look on Life

by Sanru



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Amnesia, Animal Instincts, Fairy Tale Elements, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, Frogs will be Frogs, Frustration, Headaches & Migraines, M/M, Spells & Enchantments
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-29
Updated: 2018-02-02
Packaged: 2019-01-06 19:06:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 21,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12217086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sanru/pseuds/Sanru
Summary: Everything is so different from the perspective of a frog.  Even more so when you don't remember who you are, how you arrived to wherever here is or who the three well meaning strangers are that happen to be with you.However "Iggy" -as they choose to call him- is fairly certain that these three are going to be the death of him in the end.





	1. A Change of Perspective

**Author's Note:**

> Between a series of important deadlines coming up at work that are making me half live there and a resounding case of writer's block, I need some comedic fluff in my life with a dash of romance on the side. 
> 
> Sorry/not sorry for a little self indulgence here. I need it so enjoy.

It took him a moment to realize that something had happened and that it had been really important -possible catastrophic even- but he really had no idea of what it could be.  He couldn't remember.  Everything in his head was muddled and opaque.  He couldn't remember what had happened, where he was or even who he was.  

It was all rather vexing and just a slight bit worrying.

The strange greenish gas around him was finally starting to dissipate so at least now he would have a better idea of where he was and perhaps be able to tell what had happened.  He could tell right away that his perception was all wrong.  He wasn't usually this low to the ground and he didn't remember it being so bright and colorful in a cave before.  Caves were typically dark, with long shadows that muted the colors even more but now it was though the sun was somehow shining down through the earth, revealing everything to him.

He wasn't sure how he had end up in a cave or why his perception seemed so unusual but he had more important things to worry about.  Namely the nag-

PREDATOR!!!

That thought shot through him and filled him with such fear that he immediately turned and ran away from the insanely large human headed snake.  He looked about wildly for a place to hide even as he realized that his running seemed wrong.  He was using a lot more energy than he ever had before and it was just now he realized everything was so much larger than it should have been.  He was also cold, bitterly cold, and it was making it hard for him to move about with any speed or grace.

Not that he had much speed to begin with hopping about on the cavern floor.

Suddenly he was scooped up by a large hand that gripped him tightly but not painfully around the waist.  He flailed as best he could in an attempt to break free.  His flight reactions turning to fight but he couldn't do much but wriggling about which was also wrong.  He knew he was an excellent fighter but now he… couldn't?  Something was seriously wrong.  He kicked out with his feet and push on the fingers around his waist to no avail.  He was well and truly trapped.  

“Noct!  Prom!  Go!”

The hand holding him shifted closure to a muscular chest partially covered with a leather vest.  Heat rolled off the bare skin in waves and for a moment he paused in his struggles.  The hand of the person holding him was able to move much faster than he was and he was warm.  Despite the rather frantic movement of his transport through the vast cavern room as he ducked, dodged and jumped around the naga’s attacks he felt almost warm, safe and somewhat content.  

“Go!  Go!  Noct get yer butt in gear and go!”

“But Ignis-”

“I got him!  Now go!”

He could do without all the yelling.  It was loud but it stirred something in the back of his mind that reminded him of… something.  Something very important but again buried so deep in that muddle pile of opaque thoughts that he had no idea of what any of it was.

His transport was running now in an all out sprint.  The human was pumping the arm not holding him close to his chest.  He couldn't help but grab at the fingers around him in an effort to hold on.  He didn't want to be jostled loose by the human’s speed and, even though his reasoning seemed buried in the depths of a muddy pond, he knew the human was his best chance to escape the naga that was apparently now chasing them through the cave system they were in.

What on Eos had been happening to land them in such a situation?

The human suddenly turned so fast and quickly, that he was insanely glad he had been holding onto something.  He felt the human shift his grip to reaffirm the hold on him even as he twisted himself to the right and slid through a gap that was barely as wide as his hips.  He only made it two steps before the naga’s anguished scream that her prey had escaped echoed around them.  Thankfully, she was unable to follow them through the small slit in the stone they had managed to get through and she took out her anger on their ears as she bashed at the barrier ineffectively.

He sighed in relief even as the human continued to move further away from passage where they had left her.  He hustled down the new passage they were now in, moving at a light jog until the tunnel turned a corner and widened enough so that several humans could stand shoulder to shoulder easily.  There, the two companions that he must have been yelling at earlier awaited them.  

“Seriously, when were we supposed to face a large snake in all this?  I thought we were just getting some purple glowing mushrooms!?”  The seemingly younger, blond haired man added several frantic gestures to this statement, including slapping a hand to his forehead and gesticulating wildly back the way they had come from.  “How did that even get down here?!”

“Sania did say that this wasn't a simple gathering mission and that there were 'ugly creepy, crawlies down here’.” The man holding him said even as he brought his other hand up.  With a careful hand he coaxed his feet up so he could cradle him as opposed to gripping him painfully around the waist.  The human was still warm and he was fairly sure that the human meant him no harm so he didn't bother trying to run or fight back in anyway.  

“Where’s Ignis?” The other dark hair man with in their small group demanded suddenly.  He had looked back the way they had come and then at him as he was gently settled more so that he was sitting in the larger man’s palm.  “Don't tell me-”

“Yeah, got hit with the damn thing's breath weapon right as he told us to get back.” The man’s other hand was hovering close to his back most likely to prevent him from jumping away.  Not that he had any interest in leaving, at least not yet.  He was fairly sure he knew these three men somehow and he was still cold.  Very cold.  It seemed to take so much energy now just to move around.  Adrenaline and fear could only take him so far and now he was just exhausted and cold and absolutely miserable.

“Here,” the blond took what looked like a small red bottle half the side of his palm from his vest pocket.  “Got a Maiden’s Kiss.”  Without another word he opened it and then knocked away the larger man’s hand so he could upended the liquid contents of the bottle onto him.

He didn't even move, he just blinked bewildered up at the large man holding him.  

How in Eos was that supposed to help him?

“Uh,” the blond said after a moment of nothing happening, still holding the now empty bottle with a guilty air.  At least he assumed that something should have happened because it was the most reasonable explanation to his peculiar actions.  “Why didn't anything happen?”

“Not sure,” said the man holding him thoughtfully.  He was even colder now.  The liquid that smelled faintly of berries was wicking away what little warmth he had to begin with.  He melted as well as he could onto the hand he was sitting on.  It still offered him some warmth even if it was damp.  “There must be something different about the spell this time.  The naga did have gold marking on it... I’ve never seen or heard of that before.”

“He’s also purple.  I thought we usually turned green when hit with the naga’s spell,” the blond had moved closer, the bottle vanishing back into his pocket.  He held the flashlight on his lapel a bit higher so he could look over him better.  “Oh Astrals!” He said almost giddily.  “Look!  He's got coeurl markings on his back just like the ones on his shirt!”

A blunt finger poked him rather rudely in his side.  He had been sitting sideways to the blond in the larger man's hand and so turned his head enough to glare at him.  It wasn't like he could tell him off for poking him.  His anger must have gotten across the the young man who immediately stood back and took a full step back.  He moved as far away from the blond as he could without jumping off the hand entirely and resettled himself as comfortably as he could manage.  He was still feeling absolutely miserable, cold and now with his side felt like he had been punched rather hard in the floating rib.  

He was not in the mood to deal with any of this anymore. 

“Well,” the blond said weakly even though there was still some amusement in his voice.  “He still glaring like he usually does when he’s mad.”

The hand he was on was lifted up so that he was looking the larger man in the eye. They were a warm amber color that reminded him of raw honey. “Iggy?” He asked, looking over him with a critical eye.  “Do you know who I am?”

That was a good question.  While he couldn't give really any specifics on the man holding him, his speech, appearance and mannerisms were all very familiar.  The same could be said for the two younger men behind him, the dark haired one almost painfully so.  Calling him ‘Iggy’ -which had to be a nickname judging by its level of informality- helped to add to that side of the argument that they were close friends.  Close enough to give him a nickname at any rate.  

He wished he had access to his memories to know for sure but he really wasn't in a position to argue either way.  At least with them he would be safe from everything but being poked at.  Hopefully he had deterred that from ever happening again.  As much as it hurt, that he could live with better than being swallowed by a naga or attacked by something else intent on making him lunch.  Since he doubted a nod from him would be that apparent as a frog, he also patted the hand holding him twice to help get his point across.

The man smirked at him, obviously amused, “You even got markings like you’re still wearing your glasses.”  The hand that had been hovering behind him lightly settled on his back.  He relaxed into the warmth that now surrounded him.  “Cold too, huh?”  The hand covering his back left but before he could mourn its loss, he was tucked under the man's vest near his ribs.  It was very warm there between the man’s skin and the clothes.  He could still see out enough to still feel included in a conversation even if he couldn’t speak.   It was incredibly thoughtful and touched him deeply.  It was obvious this man knew him very well.

“Why hasn't he changed back?” The dark haired man crossed his arms, giving him a look that was both worried and a bit amused around the edges.  “The spell should have worn off by now.”

“Probably for the same reason the Maiden's Kiss didn't work.  That wasn't a typical naga,” being this close to his chest caused the big guy's words to have a small reverb to them.  It was soothing.  He sighed in contentment.  “You got a picture of it?”

“Yeah, managed to snap off a couple.”  The blond stepped over, a camera in hand fiddling with several of the controls on the back.  “Here,” he turned the camera enough so that both the man holding him and he could see the picture on the screen located in the back of the camera.  “Got a couple angles and a shot of the marking on its back.”

He couldn't stop himself from shuffling backwards so that he was more hidden by the leather vest.  Though he knew it was just a picture, his instincts demanded he stay hidden from it.  They were nearly impossible to repress even though they weren't truly his own.

Despite his new misgiving on the pictures, he forced himself to look over them.  The naga had dark crimson scales adorning her body and the bodies of the snakes that framed her face.  The gold marking on her back looked like they had been drizzled over her in elongated arcing loops.  Her human like face was pale with dark blue veins crisscrossing it as if it's skin was translucent.  The eyes were dark pools that he doubted she could even see from.  

“Yeah, this is a whole new breed of naga to me.” The man holding him spoke up before giving him a slight jostle.  “What about you Iggy?  Look familiar?”

He couldn't say if it looked familiar or not.  That information along with everything he once was had been so muddled that it was impossible to decipher.  He hung his head and gave it a little shake, patting the hand he was sitting on once.  Admitting he didn't know hurt and he felt embarrassed by having to concede to it.  He  tried to push something up the bridge of his nose subconsciously in a nervous gesture.  Apparently it wasn't often that he didn't know the answer.

“Damn,” the big man said as he heaved a sigh.  

The group seemed to deflated at his omission and he could help but feel even more at fault for his unusual predicament.  He slumped down against the man's hand, pouting as much as he could and uncaring of how he looked for once.  He was a frog.  Apparently a purple frog with dark coeurl markings and the outline for glass frames on his face.  It's not like he could look much worse than he did now.

“Well, standing around here isn't doing us any favors.”  The hand he was on tilted to the side as the other hand held open the vest a bit more so the human could see what he was doing.  “Get in the pocket Iggy.  You’ll be warmer in there and not under foot.”

“Warmer?” The dark haired boy who had been silently watching him most of this time with a distressed look suddenly spoke up, looking even more stricken than before.  “Wait, he's that cold?”

“Dude, he's a frog.  Of course he's cold.” The blond threw his hands up in the air in exasperation, “I've been complaining about the temperature since we came in here.”

“And all of us were telling you to put a jacket on and not one of those vests.  They don't keep your  arms warm.”  The climb into the inner pocket of the vest was completely uncoordinated and probably would have better been classified as a fall.  He struggled trying to right himself in his fabric prison as the man that had been holding him continued to talk.  “Don't worry Noct.  He's probably just cold because he's a frog and has a different physiology now.  Just gotta keep him warm so he doesn't try to hibernate on us or some other shit.”

Charming way of putting it but true.  Since he had once been a human there was no telling if he could even hibernate or if the drop in temperature would be enough to kill him outright.  He finally managed to wiggle himself around enough so he could peer out of the pocket though now all he could see was the man's very well defined abs and vest with only the barest sliver of the world off to his left.  The loss of visibility was disconcerting but at least it was warm and -hopefully- safe here even if he did feel utterly useless.

“So what are we going to do now?” the blond asked in a voice that was just barely above that of a whine.  “Iggy’s the one that always has a plan so what are we supposed to do without an Iggy to come up with a plan.”

“It's not like he's dead or something Prom, we just got to figure out a way for him to talk to us,” the man grumbled from above him rubbing at his head in obvious frustration.  “Figuring out what kind of Naga that is would be a good place to start.”

“Sania’s a biologist.  She should know something about it,” the dark haired kid said with an air of authority.  “And we can drop off the mushrooms we managed to grab before that thing showed up.”

Hopefully.  He'd rather not be a frog any longer than he absolutely had to be.

“Let's go then,” the blond cheered as he turned away from where them and starting along the chosen path.  “I don't know about you guys but I'll be hoppy to have Iggy back to normal!”

“Seriously?”

“You did not just say that.”

“What?  Iggy says it all the time when we get turned into frogs.”

If that was true, 'Iggy’ made a mental note to never say that again because it was a truly terrible pun. 


	2. Settling In

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A special thanks goes out to Oberon, cloudnibelheims and BiazinhaBR who all went out of their ways and tracked down the picture done by Jakface who inspired Ignis' appearance for this story. Thank you all so much!
> 
> Picture link: http://jakface.tumblr.com/post/162794738422/who-is-that-frog-i-see-staring-straight-back-at
> 
> Now if you will all excuse me... I just got informed they need me to work a double right as I was leaving work :(

The ride out of the cave was something he never wanted to experience again.  It wasn't as if the big guy carrying him was inconsiderate of his relatively tiny passenger.  He did what he could to minimize the swinging of his vest and made sure that he wasn't being banged off the side of the ladder they went up at one point.  He drew the vest back to check on him occasionally even if he tried not to make it two obvious to the other two members of their party.  It was all quiet chivalrous of him.

Really it was the imps that showed up that caused the real distress.

He huddled into a ball as best he could in the inner pocket of the vest trying not to think of all the ways this could end him horribly.  Gladio -the large man with the honey colored eyes according to the other two members of the group- fought back with a sword as tall as he was and a shield about half the size of a dining room table.  As far as Iggy could tell he was trying not to let him bounce around too much but combat was rarely ever sedate or predictable.

A particular hard hit jolted the shield and nearly spun Gladio all the way around, the vest flying out and away from his side due to his weight.  Not being able to see and having the vague sense of being perpendicular to the ground, made his stomach flip.  He briefly wondered if he even could throw up as a frog.  The completion of the swing of the vest knocked him from his thoughts as he bounced off Gladio side.  A squeak of both distress and pain escaped him.

“Iggy!” His attentive host must have heard that despite his attempts at not being a distraction.  “Hang on!”

That was physically impossible considering all of his strength seemed to only be in his legs and there was nothing in the pocket that he could even hold onto.  His weight was just enough so that he couldn’t bunch the lining up in a feeble attempt to hang on.  Inertia was probably the only reason he had yet to fall out.

Gladio suddenly grunted and his feet went out from under him.  

Iggy knew he was between the ground and Gladio.  Iggy knew that Gladio’s hand only probably outweighed him, not to mention the rest of his body.  What little of his life Iggy remembered flashes briefly -very briefly- in front of his eyes as he came to the realization that he was about to be suddenly and epicly squashed after barely an hour of being a frog.

Instead of feeling the crushing feeling of overbearing weight pressing on him until he lost consciousness, Iggy felt two arms on either side of him just as he the floor.  He squeaked again but the arms held the majority of the weight off him.  He was pressed to the floor and was being pressed on all sides just enough to be uncomfortable but he was alive.  Battered, bruised and having experience enough terror in the past five minutes to last a lifetime but he was still alive.

Just as suddenly as the pressure had landed on him it was gone.  “Iggy!  Shit!”  Before he even knew what was happening, Iggy was jostled from his pocket and held in a large hand as Gladio looked over him in concern.  “Are you alright?” he demanded even as he gently poked and prodded at him, forcing his limbs away from his body and running a careful finger over his ribs and spine.  

Iggy went to glare at him for the well intended manhandling no matter how gentle it was when he realized that there was an imp jumping off a nearby rock to land on Gladio’s back.  He opened his mouth to croak out a warning even as he prepared to spring away only for it to be a moot point.  Without even looking, Gladio threw back his free hand in a backhanded punch over his shoulder, hitting the Imp in the face and tossing it away like a rag doll.  It didn’t even get a chance to squeal.  

That same hand was back, continuing to check him just as gently as before.  “You don’t look hurt,” he muttered more to himself than him.  “You are alright, right?”

Still impressed by how so causally Gladio had managed to take care of the imp, Iggy managed a small nod and to barely patted the hand in he sat on.  

Gladio’s eyes narrowed and he frowned in apparent disbelief.  He was misunderstanding his surprise for passing something off from what Iggy could tell.  “Alright,” he said even as he stroked a hand along his back again and lifted up one of his legs.  Iggy wiggled away from the persistence touch.  “But I want you to tell me if something feels off.”  He looked even more worried now as if something had just occurred to him.  “I don’t know if we can give you a potion or elixir or something when you’re like this.”

Iggy blinked in confusion at the familiar yet unfamiliar terms.  Potion and elixirs?  He felt that they were important and he should know them but he couldn’t for the life of him determine why.

-Break-

Thankfully the imps were the only creatures they ran into on their way out of the caves.  The sun was high in the sky, a pleasant breeze was rolling through the forest they now found themselves in and Iggy sighed a little at the content feeling inside him at the tranquility of the area.  Honestly the only way he could be more content was if they happened by a pond where he could lounge comfortably in the shallows or maybe sun himself better on a rock.

_ Click! _

He blinked his eyes open at the barely noticeable noise and glanced around at their surroundings trying to locate whatever had made that sound.  He wasn’t sure if it had been another predator or not but no one else seemed to have noticed it.  They were all walking in a vaguely straight line towards the top of a small raise not much more than fifty or so feet away.   

It was easy to scan their surroundings thanks to his new perch.  Though he doubted that he would be all that safe if a fight broke out, being settled on Gladio’s shoulder as they walked through the forest was a nice change from being shoved in his pocket.  He had said something about him soaking up some sunlight when he put him up there but Iggy suspected that there was more to it than that.  Gladio obviously knew him well enough to know that he liked to be included on the happenings and to be able to see their surroundings.  The warmth from the sun and his black leather vest was a perk Iggy wasn't complaining about.

_ Click! _

He had been settling down again having not detected anything else but the sounding going off again set him back on alert.  He was peering around Gladio’s neck, careful to not slid off, when Gladio spoke up.  “Prompto, cut it out.  You’re disturbing Iggy.”

Prompto was the name of the blond haired man that had dumped the berry scented liquid on him and poked him in the rib.  Those two instances hadn’t done much to put him in Iggy’s good graces and his resulting behavior was downright childish compared to the other two.  He was loud, complained about seemingly everything, whined about everything else, told jokes and brought up the most inane things possible only to antagonize Gladio with them.

However for all his faults, it was obvious why he was with them, the kid had talent even if it was rather unrefined and a bit rough around the edges.  He was fast and was able to spot the small things without the aid of spectacles or low light vision.  He fought with a pair of handguns and these great glomping things that Iggy was surprised he could even hold up let alone use in combat and his sense of humor was both refreshing and uplifting as they toiled their way out of the cave.  

He was currently lowering a strange contraption from his face, his eyes locked on the back of the small box as he fiddled with something that Iggy could not see.  “It’s not my fault he looks so happy up there and you’re being all photogenic in the background,” he complained as they walked along.  “Besides, this is one of those unbelievable moments on a road trip where you need to take a picture to prove something happened.  Iggy being turned into a purple frog and then riding around on Gladio’s shoulder like a pirate’s pet parrot?  How could I even consider letting this opportunity pass me by?”  Saying that he brought the box back up to his face and pushed a button up on the top edge.  

_ Click! _

Iggy gave the thing Prompto held a dubious look but turned back to himself when he realized there was no harm done.  It was strange to see but almost oddly familiar now that he had identified that noise.  Prompto apparently used the clicking box often to take pictures of things.  Ignis shuffled his feet a bit to make sure he still had a good hold on Gladio’s jacket before sinking his weight back down so that he was as close to seated as he could get walking on all fours like he was.

“You do know that if you try and use any of those for blackmail we’ll never find your body right?”  Noct was the third member of their group.  He was usually quiet, letting Gladio and Prompto hold up a rolling commentary as they walked, only occasionally interjecting things.  Though he looked perpetually bored with what was going on around him, Iggy notice the pinch look in his eyes and the tight line he pressed his lips into.  He was good at not showing any emotions but those were just a list of several he had already picked up on to determine his mood.  He was obviously worried -about him and his current condition from what he could tell- but with every step away from the cave and towards the rise he seemed to be relaxing little by little.

It eased something in the back of his mind as well.

“Hey, I would never take advantage of my friend’s stat ailment for my only personal gain.” Prompto managed to sound indignant but Ignis could tell just by the tone of his voice that he was up to something.  Everyone seemed to wait a moment but the silence became too much and Prompto added, “I’m taking them for Iris.”

“Why would you be taking a picture of Iggy as a frog for Iris?” Gladio asked as he gave him a sidelong look.

“The last time we stopped by the Cape she seemed kind of down in the dumps and I know how much she likes cute animals.”  He shrugged as he seem to fidget nervously from both Gladio’s and Noct’s sidelong looks.  “She doesn’t have to know it was Iggy but a frog sitting on her brother’s shoulder looking quite content with everything? I just figured that would help a bit.”

“Don’t go getting sweet on my little sister,” Gladio mock growled, thumping the blond lightly in the arm in a friendly punch that still had him stumbling a few steps off to the side.  Iggy doubted Prompto would even still be standing if Gladio really meant to hit him.  “She’s way too young for you.”

“And it won’t get you your own batch of chocolate chip cookies,” Noct added even though he was facing forward again.  “She only makes them for me,” he tacked on a bit smugly.

“And she’s too young for you too,” Gladio said before Prompto could add anything.

Honestly it was listening to a group of teenagers bicker but it was so familiar and gave him a better sense of the camaraderie they shared.  Iggy had no doubts about it at all anymore.  He did know these men well.  Exceedingly well.  The four of them were very close friends and he was glad that Gladio had managed to scoop him up back in the naga’s cave and bring him along in their retreat.  He didn’t fancy his chances alone for any length of time in his current state.  

They crest the raise with the idle chatter of conversation flowing around them only to find themselves at a small turnoff along the main thoroughfare.  “Guess I’m driving,” Noctis grumbled as he walked up to the car, lights flickering as the locks were disengaged.  “Again.”

“Hey look on the bright side Noct,” Prompto said brightly as he and Gladio walked around to the opposite side of the car.  “At least Iggy didn’t have the keys in his pocket.”

“I have a spare in my bag,” Gladio reached up and carefully plucked him up off his shoulder so he could cradle him in one hand while he opened the door.  “Did you really think Iggy would let us leave the Citadel's driveway without having a plan incase we were locked out of the car or lost the keys or something?”

Both Noct and Prompto agreed as the four of them got into the car.  Gladio set him down on the seat next to him as he reached for his seat buckle.  The seats were made out of leather and the car’s interior was even more balmy and warm than it had been outside.  The windows having caught and helped to retain the heat  making the interior of the car absolutely blissfully comfortable.

“Being ectothermic sucks doesn’t it?” Iggy cracked open one eye to give an amused looking Gladio and annoyed look before closing it again.  “Noct, keep the top up.”

He sighed and there was some rustling from the front seat before Noct was tossing his jacket into the back seat.  “Here,” he said as he started up the car.  “I’ll overheat if I wear that and he should be able to get some heat out of it for awhile still.”  He made a disgusted noise, “I’m all sticky and gross.  Definitely getting a room tonight.”

“Good idea,” Gladio said as he reached over and rearranged the pile of fabric something that looked vaguely like a nest.  Before Iggy even had a chance to do much then look at it, he was picked up and settled into what now apparently his designated seat.  He really didn’t mind that much.  It was much warmer in the coat and -as much as he hated being picked up and hauled around- it was the most practical solution given his small size.  “There you go, Iggy.  Take a nap or something.  Get caught up on some sleep while you can.”

A nap sounded like a wonderful idea.  He was tired and the warmth surrounding him would do a go job lulling him into a light doze regardless if he wanted to rest or not.  He yawned and put his head down on his arms as he partially curled into a ball.

_ Click! _

Ignis didn't even bother rolling his eyes at this point.  Having not heard much from the blond for the past few minutes, it was obvious he was up to something.  Taking pictures of him while he was like this was apparently going to be a common occurrence.

“Never find your body,” Noct reminded him with a sigh as he shifted the car into drive and pulled out onto the road. 

-Break-

Sania Yeagre wasn’t next to the Crow’s Nest.

He wasn’t really sure who she was but his friends were irritated by the news.  Apparently the young woman they were looking for had wandered off into the field on her way to the next town despite having given them the errand to retrieve the mushrooms and bring them back to her.  It was too late in the evening to go after her.  They wouldn’t even make it to the Chocobo Post before the sun set.  

Deciding to make the best of it, they ended up renting a caravan for the evening.  The three of them took turns taking showers and Iggy found himself in a partially full kitchen sink with an upturned bowl in it so he could more easily hop up onto the counter and back into the sink.  Prompto had been unusually quiet during the ride, choosing to play on his phone with only the occasional comment.  It turned out that he had been researching how to take care of frogs.  

“We gotta keep his skin moist,” Prompto had said as he filled up the sink and flipped the bowl over so he could perch on.  “Frogs don’t drink water like humans do.  They absorb it and oxygen through their skin.”  Iggy was gently lowered into the water that was just deep enough so that he couldn’t touch the bottom.  The bowl was just barely underwater to simulate a shallow area.

“Why is this article called ‘My First Pet Frog’?” Gladio had been leaning against the counter nearby, scrolling through the article Prompto had been reading on the ride.  

Iggy, while happy to finally be swimming around, glared up at his benefactor.

“He’s really going to kill you now,” Noctis took one look at the glare Iggy was giving him and pointed it out to Prompto. 

He looked a bit put out, “It was the most informative article I could find on taking care of frogs.  I know he’s not a pet!”

“Go take a shower already so we can go eat,” Gladio pushed him towards the tiny bathroom as he went back to the article.  “We’ll make sure Iggy can’t get the kitchen knives,” he tacked on playfully.

“And that there is no way he can smother you in your sleep,” Noctis smirked as he went back to drying his hair with the towel over his shoulders.  Gladio had been the first through the shower after nearly gassing them all out of the trailer from just having removed his boots.  The boots were still somewhere outside after Prompto had kicked them out the open door, Gladio was being forced to use his spare pair until the offending items were properly aired out.

“At least he can’t poison him,” Gladio was back to scrolling through the article.  “We’re going to have to reevaluate our food supplies.  Get something a little more user friendly for now.”

“He’s not going to be a frog forever,” Noct said determinately.

“No but for now we best plan ahead in case this turns into a several day excursion.  There’s no telling how long we're going to have a frog in our midst.”

While Iggy hoped he wasn’t a frog for any longer than need be, Gladio was right.  He had in fact taken the words that he had been wanting to say right out of his mouth.  It was best to be prepared for the worst while hoping for the best.

-Break-

The waitress gave Iggy a confused look as she handed out menus to everyone.  He sat on the table on the far side of Gladio looking right back.  It wasn’t like he had even wanted to come out to the diner.  He would have been quiet content floating about in the sink or curled up in the little towel nest that Noct had made for him on the counter nearby.  Instead, he was here, sitting on the diner’s table wondering if he was about to get them all kicked out before they even had a chance to order.

“That’s a frog,” she said finally looking away from him to look at Gladio.

“Yeah and he needs to eat too,” he said flashing her a brilliant smile.  Iggy was fairly sure that Nocts was hiding an eye roll behind the hastily lifted menu.

She blinked, flushed all the way up to her hairline at the look Gladio was giving her and then beat a hasty retreat promising to swing back by in a bit to take their order.

“Seriously?” Prompto was looking less than impressed with that display.  Noct was still hiding gamely behind his menu but it was fairly obvious he was trying not to laugh.

Gladio shrugged without missing a beat.  “It worked didn’t it?”

Prompto rolled his eyes but turned back to his menu.

Without anything better to do while his friends selected their meal choices, Iggy looked around the dinner.  There were a couple of other patrons out the counter and a family of four back near the door but other than that there was very little else to see.  It was a typical Crow’s Nest Dinner, with one bored cook and a still flustered waitress outright staring at the back of Gladio’s head.  One look on her face told Iggy exactly what she was thinking about.

Bored he was just about to settle in and start dozing when he saw it.  It zipped through the air, buzzing about in a meandering path along the counter.  It turned suddenly, going to the table behind Prompto and Noct and spiraling down to land on it.  Iggy didn’t move but focused all his attention on the housefly as it suddenly took flight again, circling around behind the two boys.

“So, what exactly are we going to get Iggy to eat?” Noct asked as he lowered his menu a bit.

The fly flew over his left shoulder and landed on the edge of his menu, probably after the bit of dried soda sticking to the edge.  It barely managed to get more than a taste of the dried sugar before Iggy opened his mouth and his tongue snapped out.  Barely a second later he was happily munching on his treat... Once... Twice… And then suddenly spitting it out as he realized what he had just done.  He backed away from the mangled remains horrified.  After a long look at what he had done, Iggy looked up at the stunned expressions around him.

“Apparently not flies,” Prompto said weakly.


	3. No Answers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stardew Valley in now on the Switch... it maybe a while before I post anything ^_^
> 
> Kadrus appear in the Official Guide but aren't present anywhere in the game. They were apparently supposed to show up in Zegnautus Keep. I took creative liberties bringing them into the story.

The next morning found Ignis sulking under the sponge he had knocked off the back of the sink the previous night.

As if the whole incident with the fly hadn't been bad enough, the night had just gone down hill from there.  

His friends had ended up requesting a side dish on which he was given a selection of food off their own plates all broken down into bite sized pieces for him.  Gladio gave him some ham and cheese from his sandwich, Prompto had given him some of his crackers that came with his curry soup and Noct had been very generous and gave him all the vegetables from his burger.  That had bothered him for some reason but it was still a kind gesture.  Prompto had wheedled him into also give up some of his fries.

It wasn't the meal that bothered so much as Gladio’s behavior.  Every time their waitress would come by Gladio would shamelessly flirt with her.  Prompto and Noct seemed to take the flirting with a grain of salt but with every comment, look or gesture Iggy found himself becoming more and more angry at the proceedings.  Of course there wasn’t much he could do about it except stew in anger and aggressively munch at his meal all the while trying to bore a hole with his eyes through the side of Gladio’s head with sheer disdain.

After they were finished and left the establishment -Iggy may have given the poor waitress a look strong enough to melt glass but it was completely ignored as she waved shyly at Gladio- they sat around the outdoor table in front of the caravan so that a game of King’s Knight could be payed by all except for him.  It wasn’t even five minutes later that Iggy caught himself watching the flies buzzing near the outside light debating if he should eat more while he could.  He was appalled at his own behavior.

To make the evening worse, Noct came up with a way for them to better communicate which was commendable if it hadn't brought an important issue to light.  “Here Specs,” he set his phone down on the table in front of him, the top half of the screen blank and the bottom of the screen broken up into a series of squares with strange lines and squiggles in each box.  “Just type what you want to say so we can read it.”

That was when they all had realized he had become illiterate.

After everyone had gone to bed Iggy -who was apparently nocturnal- had sat for several hours on the window sill staring out at the gas pumps trying to remember as much about himself as he could.  There really wasn’t much.  Most of what he remembered were only vague impressions or sensations, most of which didn’t make sense unless taken with the context of his location or current situation.  He did remember that he had been smart.  Very smart.  Now he couldn’t even decipher the letters on the gas station’s sign.

After sitting for several hours on the windowsill sulkily trying to determine the letters to no avail, he had flipped the sponge into the water so he could hide under it and sulked right there until dawn.  There was nothing in the sink that reminded him of anything, the sponge prevented him from looking up and here he could stay until they were forced to head out again and hopefully fix him.

“Iggy?” Gladio whispered, a finger gently lifting the sponge up enough so that he could see the concerned honey colored eyes looking at him.  He hadn't even realized the dawn had come.  “Are you alright?”

Iggy gave him a forlorned look before shaking his head.  He couldn’t pat him once to get his point across but Gladio seemed to understand regardless.  He gave him a soft smile, “Come on then.  Let’s go and get you a pick me up.”

Gladio scooped him out of the water gently and cradled him to his chest as he left the caravan and walked over to the convenience store nearby.  He held him close as he picked up a six pack of black cans all of which had some white looping writing on the side and took that to the cash register.  They left the store as soon as the transaction was complete and the cashier only giving the grumpy frog in Gladio's hand a single double take before ignoring him again.

“Stay put a sec,” Gladio set the six pack and him on the table outside before ducking into the caravan real quick.  

Iggy past the few seconds he was gone to look over the cans Gladio had purchased.  They were familiar.  Very familiar.  Like with everything before he recognized but not really, there familiarity was striking but he couldn't quite place his finger on why.  

Gladio then returned, setting a shallow bowl he must've dug out of the cupboard in front of him.  “Here you go,” he said as he cracked open one of the cans and proceeded to pour the contents into it.  “Don't think you’ll be able to really taste it like this but it should help a bit.”

Before Iggy even realized what he was doing, Gladio picked him up and settled him into the bowl.

“There.  Stay put and get your caffeine fix for the day.  Don't worry about anything else.  We've got the whole restoring your humanity thing well under way.  You’ll be back to normal before you know it.”  He stroked a finger over his head as he said it, as if touching him helped to make that promise more real.  

Iggy wished he could thank him because the reassurance was greatly needed.

-Break-

An hour later a firm decision was made at the table in the Crow’s Nest Diner.

Iggy was not allowed to sit in a bowl of Ebony for more than ten minutes ever again.

He was still practically vibrating where he sat, bouncing slightly to a nameless tune that continued to play through his mind.  Whatever it was had a fast, up tempo beat that was easy enough to get stuck in his head.  Now, it seemed he had a perpetually earworm as only the first eight bars of the song’s chorus kept going through his mind over and over again.

He wasn't even bother that Prompto was filming him on his phone.

“You are on so many levels of dead when he’s back to normal,” Was all Noct said to him as he perused the menu.

“But this is absolutely adorable.  How could I ignore it?” Prompto moved the phone a bit to get a better angle of him as he continued to bounce back and forth to the song in his head.  “I wonder what song he's thinking off?”

“Probably McVoy’s  _ The Chocobo’s Run.   _ He seems to be bouncing to the beat,” Gladio was watching him too, having made his selection like Prompto only waiting on the third member to order.

“Dude, bring it up on your phone so I can get the audio to go with it.”

Gladio spared him a look, "I don't know what you're playing at but I'm not aiding in your suicide.”

Prompto rolled his eyes, “Wow aren't you two all nice and cheery today?  What makes you two think he'll kill or maim me for any pictures or videos I take?  Here let's ask him,” Prompto looked towards him.  “Iggy?  Are you upset I'm taking pictures and video of you like this?”

He was halfway tempted to say yes just to see the resulting teasing but this was Prompto and he always had a hard time denying Prompto anything.  At least he was pretty sure he did.  The boy was always so polite and helpful that he deserved some leniency now and again.  Still bouncing around to the song, Iggy shook his head and patted the table once.

“Ha!  See!?  In your faces!”

Gladio and Noct both sighed.  “Thanks Iggy.  Now he's going to be a nuisance for the rest of the day,” Gladio grumbled half heartedly as Prompto began to dance in his seat.

Noct shuffled off to the side to avoid being hit by Prompto's flailing about which was apparently some form of dance only he knew.  “Might as well get going,” Noct flagged down the waitress to take their order.  “The sooner we get to Sania the sooner we can get Iggy back to normal.  Then we’ll see if he's really unbothered by it.”

-Break-

Breakfast was a rather simple affair.  Iggy was given some of Gladio's omlette, some cut up fruit that Prompto ordered as a side to his oatmeal and Noct had given up some of his bacon.  A truly touching gesture for a reason he could only half understand.  Again.  He attacked the offerings with gusto, mowing through all of it before his friends were even three bites into their own food.  He went back to bouncing along to the tune in his head when he was done.

By the times they were done with their meals however, Iggy's caffeine rush was gone.

He was so tired he could barely remained perched on Gladio's shoulder, sliding down the front enough so that he ended up being carried to the car in Gladio's cupped hand instead.  “Tired?” He had asked with a snort of laughter as he plucked Ignis off his shoulder.  He didn't bother setting Ignis off to the side when they got in the car, choosing rather to hold him and run a finger down his spine repeatedly as if he was petting a rather small, softball sized cat.

Iggy absolutely melted under the attention.

He slept most of the way to wherever they were heading.  Waking periodically to find Gladio still petting him while the three of them talked about everything from video games to road conditions to scenery to hunts.  Apparently they were running low on funds and were soon going to take one if only so they could buy some ingredients to use at a haven.

He was still a bit groggy when they reached their destination.  He yawned widely, rubbing tiredly at his eyes as his friends mounted the stairs and moved towards a rather petite girl in a vibrant red hat.  It had been the same red hat that had let them know where she was when they reached the gas station, easily visible even from a distance.

“Professor?”  Noct tried as they approached but they were ignored.  “Sania?”

“Hmm?” She turned and looked over her shoulder before jumping to attention and turning to face him.  “Oh it's you.  Managed to find my mushroom alright, did you?”

“Yes, right here,” he held the small bag of mushrooms up for her to take but she didn't.  Unperturbed, Noct kept talking “We were hoping you could help us-” 

“IS THAT A PURPLE COEURL FROG?!”

Still only partially awake, Iggy watched in disbelief as Sania went right through Noct and attempted to climb Gladio like a squirrel would race up a tree in an attempt to catch him.  His brain finally kicked into gear when Gladio shouted in surprise and her hand was maybe four inches away from him.

Iggy leaped before he was really paying attention to where he was going.  He went straight off to the left which meant he easily sailed over the railing and found himself falling nearly a story to the ground below.  He realized how stupid that had been right as his arch ended and gravity started to pull him down.

“Iggy!”

“Ignis!”

“Specs!”

He was lucky. Insanely lucky.  With a tiny splash he landed in a bucket partially filled with water that was sitting in the back of a truck.  He bobbed to the surface, stunned by both his luck and his stupid reaction to suicidally launch himself off a balcony like that.  He huffed trying to stop his trembling, looking up the steep wall of the bucket as he tried to figure out how to get out.  The water was just deep enough that he couldn't touch the bottom so jumping was out of the question.

There was a scramble of footsteps and a loud thump followed by a grunt as someone practically vaulted their way into the back of the truck.  “Iggy!?  Iggy?!  Are you alright?!” Prompto's voice was frantic and Iggy could hear him crashing around nearby.

Iggy croaked.  All movement stopped outside his prison so he croaked again.  The bright sunlight was blotted out as Prompto's head swung into view.  He breathed a visible sigh of relief, reaching in to lift him out.  “You alright buddy?”  Iggy allowed the manhandling this time around still terrified by his own actions as Prompto checked him over.  “You weren't hurt were you?”

Iggy blinked up at him, giving him a wide eyed stare and a tiny shake of his head while he patted his hand.  The blond visibly slumped in relief.  “He's okay!” He hollered up to the balcony as he stood on legs wobbly with relief and got out of the back of the truck, holding Iggy close to his chest.  “A little stunned but alright!”

Prompto held him close with both hands as he carried him back up to the balcony.  Both Gladio and Noct crowded around to get a look at him.  “Iggy, are yo-” Gladio was cut off as both he and Noct were shoved away by Sania who positively loomed over both him and Prompto.

“You are seriously their fourth companion?” She demanded, bending down so she was nearly face to face with him.  She adjusted her glasses slightly as she continued, “The tall one with glasses and the sandy blond hair?  Always wearing a pair of gloves?”

Iggy wished Prompto would back up a step or two.  As it was the blond was rooted to the spot staring at her in awe.  Iggy backed up as much as he could to get away from her.  Finally offer her a very small nod.

“And you can understand me?” she asked rhetorically, inching a bit closer.  “A naga’s breath attack did this to you?  And it's not wearing off with time?”

Iggy nodded and then shook his head, hoping that she was managing to keep track of what she was asking.

“And this Naga had red scales and gold markings in her back?”

“Yeah,” Noct said from one side.  He tried to subtly put himself between the two of them but Sania wasn't moving.  “Prompto took some pictures of it.  Do you want to see them?”

“I'm more interested in how a human was turned into a previously thought to be extinct frog and hasn't turned back yet.”  She went to grab him again but both of them were to slow as Gladio plucked him right out of Prompto's hand.

“Regardless of what he looks like, he's still a human,” Gladio tucked him in his inner vest pocket again as if putting him out of sight would help Sania focus on the task at hand.  Ignis burrowed into it in relief.  “You're only getting a chance to examine him if he consents to it and only after you try and help us identify the monster that did this to him.”

Iggy couldn’t see her but heard her heave a heavy, disappointed sigh.  “Oh very well.  Let me see these pictures you have and we'll go from there.”

-Break-

After almost three hours of research with books she had kicking around in her Jeep and making two separate phone calls to colleagues she had in Altissa, Sania nodded to herself as she said, “I'm fairly sure that this is a Kadru.”

“A what?”  Gladio had stood the entire time, Iggy perched on his shoulder -having wanted out of the pocket an hour into the research to get some fresh air -while Noct and Prompto leaned against the building in the shade.  They both rose stiffly and came over to join them.

“A Kadru,” she reiterated.  “A close ancestor to the various breeds of naga's today but with much more potent magical abilities if a bit weaker in strength and agility.”  She gave them an appreciated look, “To find one alive?  Now?  It's probably one of the greatest biological discoveries of our time.”

“Yeah, great,” Noct said clearly unimpressed with the news.  “So how do we change Iggy back to normal.”

“I have no idea,” Sania said smoothly even as she looked back down at the book open in front of her.  “Naga's typically use their breath weapon to change their prey into frog to make them easy to catch and swallow whole.  The prey is supposed to turn back into it's right form after it enters the naga's stomach so it gets a full meal and using next to no energy to fight and defeat their prey.  There are no records indicating that Kadru's could even turn prey into frogs and certainly not permanently.”  She gave Iggy a longing look, “I'd have to study the effects of this breath weapon to even get an idea of how to help.”

Iggy shuffled uneasily on Gladio's shoulder at the thought.  It was bad enough when one of his friends checked him over but her?  Sania had already lunged at him twice and he really didn't want to be manhandled by an overeager scientist either.  He looked at his friends, Prompto and Noct just staring back and Gladio offering him a small careful shrug.  “Your choice Iggy,” he told him in a no nonsense tone of voice.  “We’ll go to plan ‘B’ if you don't want to do this.”

Iggy had no idea what plan 'B’ even entailed and though he didn't like the idea of Sania examining him, he also didn't want to be stuck as a frog any longer than he absolutely had to.  He tried to push something up his nose again as he thought about it.  The examination would most likely be invasive but could also be the key to figuring out how to turn him back.

He agonized over the decision for a full minute.

With a resigned air about him, Iggy looked at Sania and nodded his head.

Her eyes practically lit up and immediately Iggy wished he could take it back.


	4. Seeking Help

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, weekend is here and I don't have to work for a change! And I have Stardew Valley to eat up all my free time! Yay!
> 
> ....Sorry I am stupidly excited about that :3
> 
> Also, I have nothing against strawberry scented sugar scrub. It's actually my favorite... but Iggy now does

The examination wasn't half as bad as he thought it would be.

Unlike when his friends had looked him over in the past for injuries, Sania was exceedingly gentle while handling him.  She didn't flip him upside down which he secretly despised but instead had him sit on a piece of glass that she lifted over her own head so she can look up at him.  She asked him to hop about on her table, open his mouth so she could peer inside and carefully stroked her finger along his sides and legs with barely enough pressure to be noticeable.  The two most uncomfortable thing she did was pressing up into his stomach to feel his internal organs and she held a magnifying glass way too close to his eyes for his comfort.

“Well,” she said standing up straight and still looking at Iggy where he sat on her collapsible workbench looking up at her in turn.  “If I didn't know any better, I'd say this is an ordinary -if extinct- frog.”

“There's nothing different between him and a regular frog?”  Gladio was still standing nearby.  He had been carefully watching the proceedings and Iggy didn't doubt he would have interfered if he had shown some much as a hint of distress at any point.

“Physically no,” she shrugged unhappily.  “He possess the same instincts as a frog but has some cognitive abilities of a human and his memories.  You said he was having trouble reading and writing?” She directed that last bit at Noct who had mentioned it in passing during his physical exam.

“Yeah, tried getting him to use my phone's keyboard to talk to us and he wasn't able to understand the letters or how to spell words,” the pinched look on his face betrayed his worry.  Iggy was starting to wonder if it would become permanent at this rate.

Sania’s lips thinned as she pressed them into a line.  “I don't like this,” she muttered to herself looking back at Iggy with a hand on one hip and her other holding her chin thoughtfully.  “What preventing his mind regressing completely to that of a frog's?”

Everyone froze as they suddenly realized where this was going. 

“The magic that changed him is so complete and through,” she continued not realizing the panic she had caused with her initial query.  “It is possible that the longer you are stuck like this the more frog like your mind will become.  Iggy,” she gestured to one side of the table and pointed along the edge.  “That being the least and this being the most, how well are your memories holding up.”

Part of him wanted to lie.  It was scary how much he felt like he had forgotten.  However, if anyone was going to be able to help him it was these people and lying would only slow down their search.  Still, he felt ashamed as he hopped towards to lesser side of the table pausing at about the third of the length of the table.  He hung his head as Prompto gasped in surprise behind him.  Iggy couldn't find it in himself to look up at his friends.

Sania looked even less impressed than before, “Now how are they compared to how they were yesterday.”  She pointed to the end he was closer to, “The same.” She drew her hand down along the length of the table again.  “Or worse?”

He hopped a little closer to the center of the table before stopping.  He couldn't remember much so it was hard to tell what he remembered to begin with but he could tell that murkiness swathing his mind was a bit… denser was probably the most apt way to describe it.  It seemed thicker than before and he couldn't see to move past it when trying to remember anything.  Before he could kinda remember or have a vague inkling about something if he thought over it long enough.

**“** Shit,” Gladio growled, the noise causing him to flinch and look up at him.  He was running a hand through his hair as he turned away from the table clearly exasperated.  

“That's… bad.”  Prompto fidgeted where he stood and looked at both Noct and Gladio.  “That's really bad.”

Noct took several deep breaths just watching him and Iggy looked contritely up at him, meeting his worried eyes.  After a long moment of staring at him, Noct looked back up at Sania.  “Do you have any suggestions?  I don't care how far fetched they may seem.  Anything would help.”

Sania brought her hand up and cradled her chin, crossing her other arm over her chest to support it as she spoke, “I know that the Crystal had some magic that could cure most poisons and ailments but good luck trying to find Prince Noctis.  He's most wanted on the Imperial bounty list and probably in hiding.”  Noct shifted uncomfortably but Sania didn't noticed and continued, “Honestly, at this point, I’d check with Dave.  It's possible that the hunters may have an old wise tale or some homemade concoction that’ll help.”

“Thanks Sania,” Noct stepped forward and picked him up off the table.  Instead of putting him on his shoulder like Gladio did, Noct held him in both arms, curled into his chest.  His voice was slightly more subdued than before, “Give us a call if you think of anything else.”

They said their goodbyes -Sania was very insistent to call her if there were any issues or concerns with Iggy's health or general well being- Noct held him close the entire time.  As they started down the stairs Gladio said, “Good thinking on asking for ideas, Noct.”

Iggy was gently squeezed closer to him but not crushed, “It's what Ignis would have done.”

Iggy wasn't exactly sure who this Ignis was but he agreed it was quite possibly the best thing Noct could have done in such a situation.

-Break-

“Well shit,” Dave crossed his arms and looked at him where he was still being held in Noct's arms.  They had made a phone call to this Dave only to find out he was at the rest stop himself, checking in on some of the local hunters.  They met him on the building’s porch and brought him up to speed on their problem.  “Don’t think I'm going to be able to help you much.  A permanent frog spell is a new one on me.”

Iggy wilted but not as much as the rest of his friends.  Not deterred, Gladio spoke up, “Is there another Hunter who may have heard or know something about it?”

“Yeah,” Prompto had been more quiet and subdued than Iggy had ever seen him.  He nervously fidgeted as he spoke, “Someone has to have heard about this.”

“Not many hunters get involved with naga's unless they have no other choice,” Dave said, seeming apologetic as he rubbed at the back of his head.  “Those things are dangerous as it is.  The last thing I need is for hunters to find out there are certain types of Naga that can permanently change them into frogs and the bounties would never be taken from the guild.”

“So we're out of options,” Gladio grumbled shaking his head in disgust.  Prompto made a strangled noise from behind them probably trying to bite back his own comment.  Iggy shrank down as much as he could in Noct's arms.  As if he hadn't already felt bad about the trouble he was putting them through.

“I may have never heard about a Naga who could permanently turn someone into a frog but I have an idea that might help.”  Dave gave them a small smile which seemed more pitying than anything, “Go talk to Kimya.  If magic’s involved, she might be able to help you.”

“The old lady near the Malmalam Thicket?” Noct said even as Gladio pulled out his phone to check the time.

“Should be able to get to the Haven on the other side of the river before nightfall,” he muttered even as Dave confirmed what Noct had said.

“She knows a lot about things that can't otherwise be explained,” Dave said  “I know she’s not a fan of hunters but you th-four never were officially initiated.  Should be able to ask a few questions from her at least without riling her up too bad.”

It was obvious to Iggy from the tension in Noct's jaw to Gladio's clenched fists to Prompto’s down cast eyes that they could very well be just three explorers and their pet frog soon.  It was now a race against time to find a cure for this spell cast on him or what little remained of himself would be lost.  Then he would just be Iggy the frog and not… whatever his name had been the human.  

It was both equally depressing and scary to think of.  Iggy cuddled close to Noct’s chest  to comfort himself.  The arms tightened fractionally before relaxing again in a quick rather reassuring hug that felt more like a promise than anything Noct could have said at that moment.

-Break-

“Oi!  Wait a moment!  Just wait!”

They had just settled into their respective seats when Sania had yelled down to them.  The car idled beneath them as their eyes followed the red hat whose wearer dashed along the balcony heading for the stairs.  She ran up to the car, a small jar held in one hand.  “Here,” she said, scanning the car quickly for Iggy and then setting the jar on the seat next to him.  “This is for you.”

“What is it?” Gladio asked as both of them looked at it curiously.  Noct and Prompto twisted around in the front seats to get a better look at it.  It was a simple jar filled with what looked like wet sand that had a faint red almost pinkish hue to it.

“An exfoliant,” Sania said, obviously proud of herself judging by her tone.  “Frogs need to shed their skin every day or two.  Iggy is well past due and since he hadn't tried to remove it himself I figured that something to help him rub it off was in order.”

Noct went to say something but Sania pressed on with obvious glee.  “I just came up with it myself not too long ago.  A few minutes if that.  Anyway, it primarily sugar.   The sugar crystals will provide enough abrasion to peel the dead skin off but not enough to damage his skin.  Just rub it gently into wet skin in circular motions then risen it off.  That should remove all that dead skin without any real fuss.”

“Why does it smell like strawberries?” Iggy had been trying to open the jar to no avail, curious about its contents.  Prompto had been watching him and after several failed attempts reached between the two front seats to unscrew the lid for him.  He sniffed the lid in his hand while Iggy sat up on his hind legs enough to sniff at the edge of the jar.  The scent of strawberries was almost overpowering to him.  He backed away trying not to gag looking at the jar as if it has personally wronged him.

“Strawberries and avocado oil will help to nourish the new skin,” she said though her eyes were on Iggy as he moved as far away from the jar as possible.  He ended up tucking himself up close to Gladio's hip, partially wedge between it and the seat back.  “-but it seems that the smell is a bit much for him.”

Smell?  Iggy was fairly sure his eyes were floating away as they watered from that wretched stench.  Gladio's arm came down in front of him, as if trying to shield him from the offending jar.  “I can make a new batch with less strawberries and avocado if you give me say... half an hour or,” Sania offered, reaching for the jar that was now in Prompto's hand as he screwed the lid back on.

“Thanks Sania but we'll have to take it as is,” Noct looked out towards the horizon checking in the sun.  “We need to get going before we run out of daylight.”

“Thanks Sania,” Gladio gave her a large toothy smile as he lifted a hand to give her’s a quick shake.  Iggy glowered at their exchange.  “For your help with this.”

“No problem,” she smiled, eyes bright as if just realizing something.  “I have the location of a previously thought to be extinct naga and got any chance to examine a purple coeurl frog.  This day can't possibly get any better!” She paused as if realizing something and leaned over Gladio enough so she could gently scoop Iggy up in one hand.  Her hand was much smaller than Gladio's but she spread out her fingers enough so that he felt well balanced and secure. “I hope you get better soon Iggy,” she gently pressed a kiss to the top of his head.  “The next time I see you, you had better be a human again.”

Iggy was fairly sure that the resulting blush from that kiss covered most of his body.

_ Click! _

And now he regretted promising not to be mad at Prompto for taking pictures and video of him.

-Break-

Iggy honestly had to say, at this moment, he hated his three friends with the burning passion of a thousand fiery suns.

“Just relax Iggy,” Noct was holding him securely around his body so that his legs and arms did nothing but flail about uselessly as he squirmed in his grasp.  “It's for your own good.”

He knew what was good for him and reeking from that unholy stench was not one of them.

The majority of the car ride had been pleasant until Prompto -who had been scrolling insistently on his phone most of the trip- announced he had found several articles supporting Sania’s conclusion that Iggy needed to shed.  Apparently, if he didn't shed he’d be unable to absorb liquid through his skin and -they really weren't sure what his species was but they assumed the worse regardless- in worse case unable to breathe.   That had sent them into even more of a tizzy even though Iggy assure them repeatedly as well as he could being unable to talk that he was breathing fine.  Still as twilight descended and the camp had been set up at the haven they had spent the afternoon rushing to, his three friends decided it was time he was bathed in sugary strawberry doom.  On the table next to the stove they set up in a bowl of lukewarm water, a damp towel and the wretched concoction sitting nearby.

As if.

He had tried to sneak off, figuring he could hide in the tent or maybe down on the side of the haven in some of the moss or tall grass that grew on the sides.  However, Prompto had been watching him and had called out at him not to leave the haven.  Something about deamons and other nasties that called this local their home.  Iggy hadn't paid attention to his explanation, making a break for it then, hopping for all he was worth towards the edge of the rock only for a sword to bury in the ground next to him, scaring him half to death.  Then Noct was picking him up, restraining him gently as he walked back the spa treatment .

“He really doesn't like that stuff?” Prompto gave him a halfway disappointed look.  “Iggy, Sania made it especially for you!”

Iggy didn't care if that Prince -Noctis or whatever his name was- had made it.  He did not want that on his skin, he did not want to smell like that and he was fairly sure he was going to choke on the stench alone and that is going to be what kills him which would just be ironically amusing considering they were trying to do this to help him.  He half heartedly squirmed again but Noct’s grip was still firm.  He wasn't going anywhere.

“It's alright Iggy,” Gladio said over his shoulder as he spooned some of the sugar scrub out into a smaller bowl.  “I'm trying to dilute the smell a bit.”

He let out a plaintive croak, half hoping that would deter them from bathing him in that overpowering strawberry scent.  

“Oooh Iggy,” Prompto practically cooed at him.  “It's going to be alright,” Noct's thumb shifted enough so that he could gently rub at the back of his head.  “This will help you.”

As far as he could tell there was nothing wrong with him except for the fact he was a frog and having a harder time remembering things.

“Alright,” Gladio took a whiff of the bowl he had been stirring.  “I can barely smell strawberries anymore.  Shouldn’t be half as strong as it was earlier.”

… He could still smell strawberries.

Noct put him on the table and there was a bit of a scramble as Iggy made a last ditched attempt to escape.  He tried jumping off the table, managed to dodge Prompto’s attempt to grab him but was caught by Gladio with one hand.  “Sorry Iggy,” he said as he brought him over a bowl, testing the water with his free hand.  “Just try not to squirm too much and I'll be quick.”

The water was warm like a bath and if he wasn't about to be smothered in strawberries, he'd probably actually relax into the water for a good soak.  However he couldn't just forget and kicked at the water so it splashed up on Gladio's shirt.  A bit childish but Gladio took it in stride with a snort of laughter as he stuck his hand in the other bowl.  

“Yeah, I probably deserve worse than that but I get the idea Iggy.”  The sugar wasn't as pink as it was before but Iggy couldn't help but eye it with trepidation.  He let out another sad croak which was mostly ignored other than apologetic looks from the humans standing around the table.  “When you're human again I'll let you bitch me out.”

He then smeared a good portion of it down his back and sides, making sure to keep one hand at all times, gripping him around his waist.  

Iggy had to admit that the smell was a lot less pungent than it had been earlier that afternoon.  It was just on the side of too much to be pleasant for his taste though.  He was sure he was going to smell like a strawberry for weeks.  Still, since Gladio had gone through the trouble of diluting the smell to something more tolerable, Iggy merely put up a token resistance, glaring at him the whole time.

“See?  It's not so bad.”  His thumbs began moving in small circular motions, pressing a little more than before into his small shoulders.  “I wonder if it's possible to give frogs a massage?”

Iggy melted.

It just felt so damn good.  He relaxed down onto his belly, sliding both his arms and legs away from his body and settling his chin to the bottom of the bowl.  He could hear Gladio chuckling from above him but ignored him as that delicious pressure moved back up along his spine.  “I'll take that as a yes.”

Gladio carefully continued, mostly using just his thumbs and small circular motions as he moved over his back and down both his legs and arms. Iggy couldn't even find it in himself to be mad when Gladio slowly turned him over and began rubbing more strawberry scented sugar into his belly.  He was a little more gentler here but still managed to continue his massage, half putting Iggy to sleep in the process.  He was rolled back over and Gladio massaged more sugar onto his back.  It was enough to send him until a light doze.

He woke sometime later bundled up in a damp towel sitting in one of the camp chairs that had been put around the campfire.  Right in front of his cozy little den was a small plate with some cheese and crackers on it with grapes someone had taken the time to slice and wedges of meat that appeared to be sliced and then cut into quarters for him.  He found himself wanting a glass of wine to go with it.

A barely there memory was hovering in the edge of his conscious now.  There was a plate similar to this, a large glass of wine in one hand, and laughter from behind him.  It was a small party, private.  Only him and a few of his friends enjoying drinks and munchies.  A presence behind him, that someone saying something innocent about the spread that caused all kinds of thoughts to spring to mind that weren’t innocent at all.  A warm hand on his shoulder, another playful comment.  He was sure he could turn around and kiss them then and there wouldn't be any repercussions.

But he had known that was a lie.

Still he had remembered something which hopefully meant he wasn’t too much of a lost cause.  Tomorrow they would learn how to turn him back into a human and everything would go back to normal.  A bit happier, he crawl forward to take his dinner, the not quite there memory still hovering on the edge of his consciousness.  As soon as he poked his head out of his little cocoon Gladio spoke up.  “Hey welcome back.”

“Look who's finally awake,” Noct was sitting in one side while Gladio was in the other.  All three had their noses in their phones, typing away furiously.  It was probably that flash game they enjoyed playing on their phones.  Nighty Knight or some other such nonsense.  

“Sleep well?” Prompto asked looking up from his game long enough to make sure that Iggy nodded before a distressing beep sounded from his game and he gasped, scandalized.  “ Noct!  I thought we had a truce?!”

Noct didn't look up from his game but smirked vindictively.

“You still mad at me for rubbing you in sugar scrub,” Gladio asked, ignoring the scene on the other side of Iggy where it seems an all out verbal Battle Royale was beginning on Prompto's side of the court while Noct sat there, smirking and doing more things in game that comically upset Prompto more.

Iggy shook his head realizing that he could never be mad at Gladio.

Even if he did smell like an over ripened strawberry. 


	5. An Unhelpful Answer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HeyVikkiTime did this adorable little gif of hyper Iggy back in chapter three. When I've kicked this cold I plan on going back through and adding this link to the proper chapter but for now enjoy it because it's absolutely adorable!
> 
> http://heyvikkitime.tumblr.com/post/166673815518/noctis-you-are-on-so-many-levels-of-dead-when
> 
> ... And yes I have a Tumblr but it never occurred to me to cross post to it (I've used it only to message people) so I'll update and cross post like I probably should have done for awhile now as soon as I feel better. Hopefully in the next few days but I just can't seem to kick this blasted thing :/
> 
> Ugh I'm rambling... I love you NyQuil!

It was a cold morning.

Unlike the caravan up in Duscae, the haven in the forest was noticeably cooler.  Gladio had thought of this in advance and heated up several stones that he then wrapped in a hand towel.  “Those should keep you warm for the night,” he had told him as he settled Iggy into another hand towel he had bundled into a little den for him on top of the wrapped stones.  “If you get to cold, wake me up alright?”

That had been hours ago.  At some point in the very early morning hours the rocks had finally grown cold and a chill had started to settle in.  Iggy had tried to ignore it for as long as he could in an attempt to let Gladio sleep all night but a few hours before dawn it became too much for him.  

With a Herculean effort, he forced his cold and cramp muscles to work and crawled out of his little den with a corner of the hand towel firmly clamped in his mouth.  He figured he would need a blanket and the hand towels were a bit long but the closest thing to being appropriately size for him to use.  Thankfully, Gladio wasn't far, Iggy’s den had been set just above his head so that he was close but still far enough away that no one would accidentally roll over him during the night.

Iggy went around both the camp pillow and the arm Gladio had folded under his head.  He dropped his corner of his hand towel blanket when he was within a hop of Gladio's face.  He patted at the arm next to him.  While croaking would probably wake up Gladio the easiest, it would also wake up Prompto and Noct and he rather not disturb them too.

Luckily, Gladio seemed to be a light sleeper.  It only took three pats on his arm to make him stir.  Warm amber eyes opened, looking alert even with such an abrupt wakening.  He glanced around the tent taking a quick stock of his surroundings before looking down at Iggy.  “Cold?” He whispered with barely any sound.  

Iggy gave a small nod, turning around to take the corner of the blanket back in his mouth.  He looked forward again and took half a step closer with his makeshift blanket at ready unsure of what exactly Gladio was planning.  

He chuckled quietly, shifting around so that he was more up on his side.  “You're an adorable frog, Iggy,” he commented as he coax Iggy closer to his collar bone.  He didn't stop until Iggy was cuddled to his chest and even then it was only to make sure the hand towel was tucked close around him.  “There you go,” he said softly.  “Comfy?”

Iggy patted the hand that was curling around his exposed side.  “Good,” Gladio half yawned as he spoke, resettling his head on his arm.  “Go back to sleep then.  Still a while before dawn yet.”

Iggy settled down, warm in both body and heart.

-Break-

“You know… I think that this has to be the happiest I’ve seen him since he changed into a frog.”

“How could he not be happy Noct?  He’s a frog, in a river, basking on a rock,” there was a click from somewhere off to his right side as Prompto took another picture.  “About the only way he’d be happier was if he had a lily pad to perch on.”

While the idea of his very own lily pad was nice, Iggy really couldn’t complain about his current location either.  After a breakfast of pancakes, fruits and sausage -Prompto had even made him a small stack of pancakes, each barely the size of a gil- It was decided that a quick wash off in the Maidenwater was needed before hiking up the hill to meet this Kimya.  He was currently lounging on top of a submerged rock that put him up high enough so that the water came up to his shoulders.  His three friends were downstream a few steps, washing themselves off as best they could in the water with a bar of natural soap.  As far as Iggy was concerned it looked more like they were goofing off rather than bathing.

“Kiyma has a small pool out in front of her house if I am not mistaken.  Might be a lily pad in there if you want to get a shot of him lounging on one that bad,” Iggy had his eyes closed in bliss, comfortable in what was his transformed state’s natural habitat, but cracked them open now to look over at Gladio as he spoke, only to blink them open wide and stare.  

Gladio was standing with his back to him, naked with water running over the planes of his muscles as he shook more water from his hair.  It was more alluring that Ignis could have thought.  He stared at a single droplet as it raced down his shoulder, over the tattoo inked across his back and then continued to trace down over his muscular ass and curved inward to flow down the inside of his thigh. 

Iggy swallowed hard.

“Dude, put some clothes on,” Noct grumbled from where he was crouched down off slight deeper in the water obvious trying to keep some decorum of modesty.  

Gladio turned to him giving Iggy another angle to admire his body unintentionally from, “Why?  Jealous?”

“Come on Noct, you know Gladio,” Prompto had been in and out of the water faster than any of the others.  Iggy wasn’t even sure he had finished rinsing all of the soap out of his hair though he seemed to be putting more than enough product into it to style it back up in his seemingly trademark swoosh.  “He’d be a nudist if he had a choice.”

“If you got it, flaunt it,” Gladio said in good humor though he did start making his way back towards shore and his discarded clothes.  “Hurry up Princess, we can’t wait for you all day.”

Noct grumbled something else at his retreating back but Gladio didn’t rise to the bait.  Since the unintended show was apparently over, Iggy turned his attention back to the middle of the river, flustered with himself.  That had been more than a little inappropriate even if Gladio hadn’t seem bothered by running around naked in front of them.  Iggy fidgeted slightly on his rock, embarrassed with himself from not turning away and giving Gladio some privacy while at the same time not really regretting the eye full he was given.  

He felt like a voyeur and subtly rubbed at his mouth to make sure he wasn’t drooling.  That would have made it seem so much worse.  Gladio was his friend and had been doing everything possible to keep Iggy as comfortable in his transformed body as possible.  He had saved him more times than Iggy could count so far and had kept treating him as normally as possible even when Iggy couldn’t remember any of his likes or dislikes.  This was how he was repaying his friend’s kindness?  Iggy was disgusted with himself.

Just as he was about to really start to berate himself, his instincts suddenly screamed at him not to move.  He froze, looking around as best as he could without moving, trying to figure out why he was so alert and ready for danger suddenly.  The river looked the same as it had only moments before.  There were no shadows on the water that would indicate a bird of prey taking an interest in him or a large fish.  There was a log that was drifting closer to him as the current carried it alon-

Iggy croaked to his friends in warning even as the log came closer to him, staring right back with obvious intent.

He worriedly croaked again.

“Hey Iggy,” Prompto said.  “What’s wrong?  You okay?”

Iggy had been about to croak again but instead squeaked in terror as the young sahagin lunged at him.

“Iggy!”

Iggy jumped forward, propelling himself as far away from his previous spot as he could but not before he felt something rake along the back of his shoulder.  He ignored the sting as he hit the water, swimming for all he was worth towards a nearby rock in hopes of finding shelter.  Running and hiding was all he could think about even as he heard a gun fire repeatedly behind him.

“Get away from him!” Prompto yelled as what sounded like a guarla charged into the water.  Iggy didn’t dare look back to see what was happening but both Noct and Gladio were now yelling about seadevils.  Instead he dove, heading toward the base of the rock he had been heading for, hoping to find a small hole he could wedge himself into and hide.

He was in luck. There was a small divot underneath the rock that he managed to dig himself into.  He shifted around some of the smaller pebbles so that he was resting on sandy river bottom more comfortably and peered out at the murky water surrounding his shelter.  It was difficult to see but with all the noise and the flurry the water was being kicked into it could only mean there was a fight going on.  He tucked himself as far back as he could and made himself as small as possible.  He could only watch as the water was stirred up more and more, hoping that his friends were alright.

Just as suddenly as it had all started, the commotion in the water stopped.  Iggy stayed put even as the water calmed and the sediment that had been kicked up from the river bed began to settle as it was wicked away in the gentle current.  He wasn't sure who won but there was definitely blood in the water.  He hoped that they were okay but couldn't muster the courage to leave his little hidey hole to go see if they were.  The thought of seeing any one of them dead and being chewed on by some wild animal made his stomach churn unpleasantly.  He felt like he was going to be sick.

It was another ten or so minutes later that a dull ticking noise reached his ears.  The water was still impossible to see in but the click was repetitive enough not to have a natural cause.  It was almost like someone was snapping their fingers underwater.  Tentatively, expecting something to lunge out of the murk around him at any moment, Iggy slowly left his little hideaway and swam up to the surface valiantly ignoring the sting in his shoulder every time he moved his arm.

He resurfaced next to a seadevil with caused him to start but its eyes already glazed over which was a relief.  It still sent a shudder through him.  “Iggy!” Prompto was somewhere off to his left closer to the river’s bank and on the far side of the carcass he was next to.  “Iggy where are you?!”

He let out a small croak, wincing as lifting his head to make sure the sound carried enough made the sting in his shoulder increased to a sharp pain.  He let out another smaller croak, trying to tell his friends where he was without hurting himself again.

There was several heavy splashes on the other side of the corpse before Gladio appeared on the other side of it.  “Iggy,” he breathed in relief, frowning almost immediately as he got a good look at him.  “Come here,” he commanded, bending enough to scoop him up with one hand.  The other held his oversized sword at ready, balanced lightly on his shoulders.  

Out of the water his shoulder hurt even worse than before.  “I found him!” Gladio hollered to the others as he moved back towards the shore.  He was clad only in his wet jeans and necklace but that didn’t seem to faze him in the least as he strode up onto dry land with long, determined strides.  Iggy tired to sit up better in his hand but ended up collapsing back down as his shoulder stung so bad it's stole his breath away.

“Easy Iggy,” his voice was stern but pitched low in concern.  “It looks like one of those things managed to nick your shoulder.  Just relax for now.”

That explained the stinging he was feeling.  Gladio moved further up onto the shore only stopping when he reach where they had piled their clothes earlier.  He knelt down, careful not to jostle him too much, and the sword vanished in a small cloud of crystals back to wherever it had come from.  “Alright,” Iggy found himself settled on top of Gladio's tank top where it had been dropped when he had first stripped.  “Let's see how bad this really is…”

His voice trailed off as he bent over to get a better look at his shoulder.  Iggy just laid still, partially sprawled out on the cotton tank that was fast becoming damp from him.  Hopefully it was all water but he did smell fresh blood in the air.

“Iggy!” Whatever modesty Noct had previously had been lost during their battle with the local fauna.  He appear next to them, following where his blade had been buried into the dirt, still naked but too frantic with worry to seemingly care.  “Iggy!  Oh gods are you alright?!”

“Easy Noct,” Gladio said still leaning over him.  “It looks worse than it actually is,” there was a pause as he sat up a bit.  Prompto came running up them, breathing hard but barely looking winded as he joined them.  “And put some pants on already!”

Noct ignored him, leaning in to get a better look at Iggy.  Iggy avoided looking up at him and instead did his best to burrow more into Gladio's tank.  He had been enough if a voyeur today.  “Give him a potion," Noct commanded.

“Curatives don't seem to work on him remember?” Gladio huffed as he pulled a bag out of the magical crystal dimension Iggy had seen them pull everything from camping gear to weapons out of.  Gladio had the waterproof bag containing their dried goods next to him.  “Besides, there's no telling if trying to use magic on him is only speeding his memory lost up,” he rooted around in the bag looking for something in particular.

“But he's still bleeding!”

“Noct!” Gladio snapped, giving him a hard look as he pulled a small Tupperware box from the bag with a label Iggy couldn't read.  “Calm down.  Of course he's still bleeding, frog blood doesn't clot the way humans do.” He opened the box and took out a little pinch of white power.  “This should help stop it up a bit.”

Prompto made an annoyed sound in the back of his throat, looking up from his phone.  “There's nothing online that tells you what to do if your frog is bleeding.  About the best I can do is find something called 'melafix’ which I've never even heard of.” He knelt down next them, giving Iggy a smile when he saw him look up.  “I hope this stuff wor-” he had picked up the container to look at the label and stopped in disbelief.  “Cornstarch?  You're patting cornstarch into his cut?”

“Yeah, it's a natural binding agent.  Use to use it on injured strays that Iris always seemed to be bringing home.” Gladio snorted in amusement at a past memory he didn't bother sharing with them.  “Dad never let her keep a single one but always helped her to find them good homes.”

There were several more light taps to his back before he said, “Alright Iggy.  You're not bleeding anymore.  How do you feel?”

He moved slowly, conscientious of the powder on his back and from straining it too much.  He sat up shifting about to find a more comfortable position on his rather lumpy seat before looking up at the wide eyes and worried looks of his friends.  He let out a small croak as he turned more to look up at Gladio.  

“Doing better?” Gladio asked as he closed the container for the cornstarch.  Iggy carefully nodded his head.  “Good.  Noct clothes.  We're leaving before anything else decides to show up and take a chunk out of one of us.”

-Break-

Iggy was carried up the hill tucked close to Gladio’s chest and partially bundled in his damp tank top.  They had barely waited long enough for Noct to finish sliding into his clothes before leaving the area.  All of them were on edge in case of another ambush.  Prompto was still holding his gun and scanning the area around them with an intensity that seemed completely out of sorts for his character.  

They only once had an encounter with the local fauna on their hike up the hill.  It was a large four legged equine creature with a horn in the center of its forehead stared at them as they walked past.  They just hurried along, keeping an eye on it incase it decided to charge, but baring it no mind otherwise.  In return, it let them pass but not before a few tense moments when it stomped a hoof at them and flicked its tail in agitation.  Iggy was just thankful that the tense situation fizzled out into nothing more than that.  

They branched off from the path finally, heading down what looked like little more than a rabbit trail the headed off into the forest.  Iggy shifted closer to Gladio unnerved by how the trees seemed to curl overhead and how the path seem to get darker for some reason.  There was a strange heavy feeling in the air.  “It’s alright,” Gladio said as he felt Iggy move.  “It’s not as bad as it looks.”

However, all three of them seemed to hold their breath for a moment or two until the strange atmosphere lessened and they found themselves in a small clearing with a little cottage surrounded by a rock wall.  There was a song bird chirping off in a bush to the side and there were a handful of chickens scattered about, clucking about as they scratched about in the grass.  It was a far cry from what they had just come through and Iggy silently dreaded the thought of walking back through it when they left.

They hadn’t even taken three steps into the clearing when the door to the cottage swung opened and a elderly woman stepped out carrying a large steaming pot.  “Late you are,” she scolded them as she carried the pot to a little table she had set off to one side of her door.  “Worried the extra food would go to waste I was.”

Iggy wasn’t sure how she had known they were coming but Noct took it in stride.  “You really didn’t have to make anything for us.”

“Rarely visitors do I get, nice to cook for others occasionally,” she set the pot down on a trivet made of small round pegs lashed together with twine.  Three wooden bowls and matching spoons sat on the table in front of a chairs.  “Come, eat before cool it does.  Tell me of your plight you will.”

They all shared a look with each other before taking seats at the table.  Iggy found himself settled, still on his tank top cushion, on the table between Noct and Gladio.  They all thanked Kimya as she careful spooned some sort of thick beef stew into their bowls.  “Now tell me you must what happened to your friend,” she settled into a free chair next to the pot, looking around at the three humans as they tucked into their meal.  

The three of them took turns recounting the errand they ran for Sanai and their encounter with the kadrus as the sipped from their bowls.  Kimya didn’t interrupt them once, just nodding her head politely like this was all been something that she had heard before.  Iggy wasn't sure but there was something about her that he didn’t like.  He watched her carefully, puffing up slightly to appear larger and more threatening even though she was hardly fazed by his blustering.  

“-and Dave suggested we come and see you.”  Noct took another sip of his stew before continuing.  “Do you have any idea of what kind of spell or magic this is?”

Instead of answering, Kimya snapped her fingers.

There was a small hitch in his friends’ breaths an Iggy looked about wildly at the three of them, taking note of how they were frozen in mid motion and their eyes were dull and glazed over.  It had to be from something in the stew.  He let out the angriest and most intimidating croak he could muster as he jumped from his seat and then again as he launched himself at the old woman still sitting calmly where she had been.  He knew she was up to something offering them a meal like that.

Iggy didn’t even see her move.  One minute he was mid air, leaping at her face, the next she was holding him carefully around the middle smiling at him as he struggled to get free.  “Calm yourself you must.  Talked to you privately I wished.  Alright they will be, release them I shall after a talk with you.”

Iggy glared at her but stopped struggling.  If all he had to do was listen to her to get them released that was easy enough to do.  She set him back on the table before settling back in her seat once again.  He continued to glare at her, not trusting her in the least and mentally swearing revenge on her if anything happened to his friends when they were like this.

She smiled as if knowing what he was thinking of.  “Break the spell you must in the span of a fortnight.  Frog forever you will be after that.  Need not an item or a counterspell for curse to end but a realization of yourself you need.”

She leaned forward then, giving him a look that rivaled his own.  “Years ago, turn away you did for greater good of others around you, a desire you wanted that you cast aside.  Now, remember you must what you gave up.  Long for it you still do.  You know of what I speak.”  She sat back in her chair, “To break the curse claim you must what you have denied yourself for so long.”

Iggy blinked at her confused, trying to figure out what she was going on about even as she gestured back to his previous seat.  “Return to it you should, lessen confusion for them it will.”  

Meekly Iggy returned to his seat, thinking hard on what Kimya had said.  A desire he had given up even though he still wanted it?  This whole exercise would be so much easier if he didn’t have a murky, opaque mind to dig through.  What would he have given up but still wanted years after the fact?

Kimya snapped her fingers and just like that the others began to move around again.  Their eyes clear as if nothing had happened.  They were watching Kimya as they continued to eat, waiting patiently to say something as if no time had past.  She in returned just stared at Iggy who wished he could ask her if she knew what he needed to do to be a human again.

“To reverse the spell a fortnight you have to find true love’s first kiss,” she finally said in all seriousness to Iggy.  

Prompto choked, sputtering into his stew yet still managing to gasp out, “We have twelve days to find Iggy’s crush?”

“And get them to kiss him?” Noct asked, looking at Kimya as if he had heard her wrong.

“Or kiss them he shall,” she said nodding her head in agreement to what she had said.

“You probably have no idea who that is do you?” Gladio asked looking down at him.

Having desperately trying to remember for the past few moments, Iggy could only shake his head sadly.  The half remember memory from the night before was still fresh in his mind but he had no idea who had been standing behind him only that he had wanted to kiss them.  Whoever that person was, Iggy was confident that was who Kimya was referring to.  

But who they were, he had no clue.


	6. All the Kisses in Eos

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I thought loosing my job would give me free time but I was apparently sorely mistaken and the now hour and a half long commute into the city for this part time gig I found really sucks.
> 
> However, I have now found a carpool to the commuter rail that'll hopefully give me some extra free time in the morning and evening to indulge in my favorite pass time. Hopefully!

“So… twelve days… where do we even start?”

Iggy was sulking in Noctis’ hands as he carried him down the hill.  He had tried his hardest to remember anything about whoever had been behind him in that memory while his friends grilled Kimya on everything she knew about the curse and if there was anyway to make it so Iggy could remember something.  She had been rather vague and allusive in her answers, making little to no sense as she basically talked in circles around them for an hour, always coming back to Iggy kissing his true love.  About the only helpful thing she did was give them a potion that would supposedly heal the wound on Iggy's shoulder and cause him no additional harm.

Gladio especially had been very particular about that.

“No idea,” Gladio grumbled seemingly irritated about something as he answered Prompto’s question.  “Iggy was never very forward about his personal life even back in the Crown City.”

“Great,” Noctis held him up slightly so he could look at him.  “And you’re sure you can’t remember who it is?” he asked Iggy.

Iggy sadly shook his head.  He wasn’t even sure how he would tell them even if he did know who this mysterious person was.  He couldn’t even write out their name if he knew it or their description… if he knew it.

Prompto let out a little gasp as a thought occurred to him, “What if his crush was in the City when it-”

“Let’s assume they made it out.”  Noctis said quickly, killing that thought where it stood.  “Even if they were, we are going to run down each and every option we have outside the City until we run out of time.”

“Yeah, can’t leave Iggy to his froggy fate without at least giving it our all before hand,” Gladio said as he cracked his knuckles.  “Going to have to start going to every girl he knows.  One of them is bound to be it.” 

Prompto half bounced where he walked on the opposite side of Noct.  Moving forward enough he spun back to face the three of them with a double thumbs up and a bright smile.  “We’ll get every girl on Eos to kiss him if we have to.”

“Let’s head for Caem then,” Noctis said frowning as he tried to work out the logistics of the next few days.  “Monica’s there.  She’ll probably be the easiest to convince.”

“Iggy worked in the same office as Dustin for awhile too.  He might have some idea of who Iggy was soft on.”  Gladio added.

“Um…” Prompto slunk back to walk alongside Noct again.  His previously chipper demeanor calming slightly as he fidgeted nervously with the wrist straps of his fingerless gloves.  “Don’t take this wrong Gladio but… Iggy knows Iris.  Shouldn’t she kiss him too?”

If looks could kill, Iggy was fairly sure that Prompto would be nothing more than a smear on the ground.

“He has a point, Gladio,” Noct flat out ignored the look that was immediately sent his way, practically yawning at the ire buried in it.  “She’s a girl and she’s known Iggy for a long time.  Kimya couldn’t tell us exactly what a ‘true love’s first kiss’ actually meant.  It could mean either a familial love or a romantic pursuit.”

“If you pay attention to the saying, it's pretty damn romantic,” Gladio grumbled still testy about Iggy kissing whoever this Iris was.  “But if that’s the case shouldn’t you kiss him too Noct?  Iggy’s raised you most of his life.  You’d be the person he’d love the most if that was the case.”

He had?  Iggy looked up at the young man holding him in awe.  He’d raised this quiet yet polite young man that seemed to be both perpetually bored and tired in equal amounts?  It was hard to believe but it explained the strong familiarity he had with him.  He must have been around Prompto and Gladio almost as long because the bond was definitely there for all three of them.  

Iggy was sudden lifted up and Noctis kissed him on the top of his head without hesitation.

Everyone waited a beat… but nothing happened.

“Well, that rules out Noct,” Prompto said with a shrug.  “Should we kiss him too, big guy?  Just in case?”

“I may not know who Iggy’s crush is but he did one time say he was into girls,” Gladio said with a disappointed sigh, one hand coming up to rub at the back of his neck.  “No way it would be either of us.”

Iggy wilted in sympathy.  His friend sounded so sad about that fact.  Iggy was sorry he had ever told him that if it had upset him as much as it appeared to.  He shouldn’t have said anything at all.

“So we get him to kiss every girl he’s ever met outside the City.  We can cross Sania and Kimya off that list.”  Kimya hadn’t actually kissed him but none of them thought Iggy could like that old crone, including Iggy himself.  “So we’ll start with Monica,” Noct gave Gladio a sidelong look as he doled out their marching orders.  “And Iris.”

Gladio glowered at the path ahead of them but didn’t argue.

-Break-

The second he met Iris, Iggy completely understood Gladio’s ire.

“He’s so cute!” Iris half squealed as she leaned down close to where he sat on the table.  Iris was a teenager and if Iggy had really raised Noct than he had to at least be his age if not older.  That would make him almost five to six years her senior... and she was still a minor.  He fidgeted uneasily at the thought which only prompted Iris to make more of a fuss over him.  

“Oh Iggy,” she giggled as she stood up only to clap her hands together and give him a bright smile.  “I’m sorry you’re stuck as a frog but at least you are a really cute frog.”

Her bright smile was infectious and he couldn’t help but nod his head in agreement.  That in the very least was something in his favor.  Especially if he had to be kissed by nearly every girl they came across.  In that sense, the more adorable he was the better.

“According to my Grandfather’s notebook, frog spells are usually reversible with a maiden’s kiss.  A white tea brewed from a specific flower common in the Clienge region,” the little boy called Talcot had been watching him with rapt interest after flipping through a worn notebook that he was holding close.  Iris smiled at him and patted him on the head causing him to beam happily up at her.

“Unfortunately, he was not very forthcoming in his romantic pursuits while at work.”  The man who he had been introduced to earlier was saying.  Dustin was giving him a grave look as he scrutinized him he sat.  “If anything of a personal nature came up in the office he typically declined to answer or redirected the conversation entirely.  He preferred to keep most of his  personal life outside his duties to the Crown private.”

Noct huffed in disappointment but didn’t say anything else.  

“So now what?” Prompto asked with a small shrug.  “Where do we go from here?”

“Bed.  It’s too late to drive anywhere.  You’ll just be caught on the roads after dark”  Dustin said gesturing to the second floor.  “We have rooms aplenty here for your stay.”

“And I do suppose that I should kiss Ignis and see if this dilemma is solved,”  Monica was a middle aged woman that had an air of seriousness around her.  She had a soft smile and warm eyes that helped to soften her no nonsense demeanor around the edges.  She set the large bowl of water she had brought over from the kitchen next to him on the table.  The instructions Kimya gave for her potion was for him to soak in the solution for a good hour.  “Some water for you but first,” she gently coaxed him into her hand, lifting him up enough to place a barely there kiss on top of his head.

Nothing happened.

“Well it was worth a try,” Gladio said with a sigh.  The large man had been tense since walking into the house, grumbling under his breath about something even after the enthusiastic hug he had received from his little sister, who had hung off his neck squealing happily for a few moments.  That same bright smile had then punched him in the arm and complained about him not calling or visiting more often.

“My turn!” Ignis was plucked swiftly but carefully from Monica’s hand and cuddle for a moment to Iris’ cheek before she kissed him both loudly and thoroughly on the side of the side of his head.  It was both embarrassing and slightly scary as it gave Iggy a perfect view of Gladio’s deep frown as he scowled at the two of them, as if daring Iggy to become a human again right then. 

Iggy really hoped it failed.

After a moment of nothing happened, he let out a breath at the same time as Gladio seemed to finally relax as well.  He had a feeling that that had been a close call.  He’d seen Gladio fight and he didn’t want to be on the end of his blade or fists.

“Aw, I’m sorry Iggy,” Iris said, her disappointment nearly palatable, oblivious to his immense relief.  She patted his head gently as if he were a cat which in reality was a bit painful but it was still a nice gesture.  “I wish that would have turned you back into a human.”

While he wanted to be a human again, he was glad that Iris hadn't been the one to change him back.

The thought of fighting with Gladio was just… it hurt.  He wasn't sure how else to explain it.

-Break-

“Ya’ll have got to be pulling this girl’s leg now.”  The scantily clad lady whose name was Cindy pointed right at him.  “That can’t be your Iggy bug.”

‘Iggy bug?’ Iggy wasn't sure where that had come from but he already didn't like it.  He gave her a grump look but it was ignored as she choose to look at his friends instead.  “Yeah kind of hard to believe but well…” Prompto gestured to him with a flourish of his hands, “Meet the new Iggy.”

“That hopefully will be back to the old Iggy before this transformation is permanent,” Noctis added as he crossed his arms.

The older gentleman standing next to her leaned in closer to where he was sitting on Gladio's hand, watching the proceedings and trying to ignore how awful he felt.  “So you can't talk, read or write and yet you still remember who you actually are?”

Well, to some extent yes and no but there was really no way for him to argue the semantics.  Iggy settled for just nodding his head in agreement causing the older gentleman barked out a laugh.  “This reminds me of the time Weskham was transformed into a particularly grumpy fish.”  He straightened up as he said that, hand holding his lower back like that slight movement had hurt more than he was letting on.  “Except that spell wore off in a matter of hours not days.”

“That's the catch,” Gladio grumbled from above him.  “Unless we can break the spell in the next eleven days, Iggy becomes a regular frog.”

The merriment on the older man's face was gone in an instant.  “Well shucks…”

“There isn't a counterspell or something?” The girl seemed stricken, looking imploringly to each of his friend in turn before looking down at him sadly.  She crouched down slightly so they were more on eye level, “Is there something I can do?” she asked him directly as if he could actually respond back.  “To help?”

“Well, yeah, that's why we are here-”

Iggy tuned out Noct as he explained to their two friends what was going on.  It wasn't as if he really needed to hear a breakdown of what he already knew.  He scrunched down a bit where he was sitting in Gladio's hand.  The Liede region was hot and dry and wasn't a very friendly environment to a moisture loving frog like himself.  He'd been feeling tired and dried out for awhile now and the longer he sat outside in the noon sun the more sickly he felt.

He was so glad they were only spending the day here.

They had left Caem first thing in the morning, the sun barely peeking over the mountains in the distance and Noct grumbling while rubbing his eyes as he practically whined about getting up so early.  Gladio had just marched him to the car, telling him to grow up and wake up in his typical gruff way.  Iris had cuddled him a bit more and wished him luck before tucking him down in a bowl with a damp hand towel in the backseat next to Gladio.  It had been soaked in more of the potion Kimya had given them even though the wound had mostly healed overnight.  They all agreed that it was better to be safe than sorry.

Talcott had loan him his lucky cactuar figurine which looked exactly like all the other cactuar figurines he had lined up on the table.  He claimed that his good luck charm had never failed him and though Ignis didn't believe in charms or other such superstitions the gesture was a nice one.  Both Monica and Dustin had wished the four of them luck tracking down his 'true love’ on a more subtle scale and offered their assistance if it was needed.  They would also alert Cor to the situation in case there was something he could do to help.

They had headed straight for here, a mechanic depot and station known as Hammerhead.  Their only stop had been at a small cafe and gas station along the way, where they had filled up both the car and themselves before jumping back in the vehicle and flying down the road again.  Their intention was to start looking for his crush in order of where they had been and following along the route from before.  Before what Iggy wasn't sure but it seemed like a logical choice of action.

Surprisingly, instead of the tense journey that he had been expecting, Gladio and even Noct teased Prompto almost the entire drive and a bit in the cafe.  The blonde photographer apparently had a crush on Cindy and he was teased all the way here by the other two about Cindy being the one to break Iggy's spell.  Iggy felt bad for Prompto on more than one occasion and had croaked at the other two a couple times to get them to lay off the blond.  They did but only because Gladio thought that something was wrong with him and the teasing would start up again shortly after Gladio had determined that he was fine.

He had an urge to make flame roasted toast to give to Noct and Gladio while he made Prompto a meat pie with leukorn and dualhorn steak simmered to perfection in a red wine with just a hint of fresh basil and garlic to add to round out the flavor palette.

He had then spent the next twenty minutes trying to figure out why on Eos he wanted to cook for these three and why he apparently could remember a large selection of recipes but not the name of his love interest.

“Of course I'll give him a kiss!” Iggy was brought out of his musing as a Cindy stepped up to Gladio, stripping off her gloves and jamming them into her jacket pocket.  “Reckon oil and hydraulic fluid won't be good for him,” She carefully picked him up, settling him on her hand before lifting him up and kissing him gently in the side of his head.  “There you go,” she smiled down at him as she stroke the top of his head with slow gentle strokes that he had to admit felt pleasant.  “Did that work?”

Everyone waited a breath but nothing happened.

Prompto heaved a huge, dramatic sigh of relief.

“No, doesn’t look like it,” Noct said with a smaller sigh.

“Still thanks for trying,” Gladiolus said reaching a hand out to take him back.  “Hate to cut this short but we better get moving.  We don't have a lot of time to track down his true love.”

“I wish there was something more I could do to help,” Cindy pouted as Gladio took him back.  Iggy sunk into his hand feeling slightly disappointed and positively dry.  He honestly just wanted to be back in his bowl buried in a damp towel for the next day.  Maybe then he’d feel better.

“If we think of anything we’ll get in touch,” Noctis said with a sigh.  “Thanks for trying at least.”

They turned to the car, Gladio running a single finger along his head like Cindy had, gently petting him.  “Astrals, you're dry.  You need a good soak?”

He nodded his head tiredly in agreement, twisting around to try and rub irritably at his shoulder.  “Shoulder itching again?” Gladio carefully reached down and lightly scratched at the freshly healing skin.  He melted under the gently touch.

Iggy was so glad that he had such an attentive friend.

-Break-

“Seriously, you can't have a frog in this establishment.”

Iggy had to agree with her and not simply because she was holding a spatula in such a threatening manner.  As soon as Gladio had pulled him out of his pocket to show him to this lady, Iggy had taken note of the rather fancy looking kitchen environment situated behind the counter.  With the patrons sitting on the other side of the bar and the circular cooking area in the middle of it, he had immediately tried to dive back into the jacket’s inner pocket only to be stopped by Gladio.  The man obviously didn't understand the sanitary issue he presented in such a place.

“Just hear us out Coctura,” Prompto said pleadingly even as Iggy continued to try and crawl back into Gladio's pocket.  He had resorted to slapping irritably at his hand in an attempt not to draw too much attention to himself with some irate croaking.  Gladio seemed to be frowned down at him but his attention was quickly pulled away when Coctura pointed the spatula at his chest.  

“Get the frog out of sight and we can talk,” she said.  Finally Iggy was tucked back into the pocket of Gladio's jacket.  He shifted about slightly to get more comfortable as he listened in.  “Thank you.  Now, what's all this about and why did you bring a frog into my establishment?”

“Well you see, Iggy was turned into a frog and we need a fair maiden to kiss him.  We were hoping you could do it?” It was something that they had discussed as they had walked along what he had thought was a long dock until proven otherwise by the fancy restaurant and resort situated at the end. Instead of possibly scaring or upsetting Coctuna with the idea of Iggy liking her and saying anything about true love’s kiss they had decided that it just had to be a fair maiden.  Iggy could then broach the whole idea of dating her when he turned back into a human.

“Why aren't you using a remedy or a Maiden's kiss?  Isn't that what hunters usually use?” He could hear the skepticism in her voice and honestly didn't blame her.  It sounded just as far fetched as the rest of this fairy tale nightmare was becoming.

“Tried that and they didn't work.  Called Dave and he suggested finding an actual maiden to kiss him,” Noctis added following up what Prompto had said earlier.  It was a rather grievous stretch of the truth but Dave was the one to send then to Kimya for the cure.

There was a telling pause and Iggy could practically see the skeptical look she was giving them.  

“Look, we know this sounds a bit far fetched but… you two really seemed to enjoy talking together when we’re here.  You two always go off to the far side of the bar and talk for a couple hours at least.  We just kinda figured that there was something… you know?”  Prompto trailed off as if uncertainty but Ignis could tell by the lit in his voice that he was hamming it up.  Hard.

“...Well, I did like talking to him,” she started hesitantly but gradually gained a bit of confidence as she went.  “He had some great suggestions on what to prepare alongside white fish… I never would have thought that a red wine reduction would go so well with it.  It was an amazing suggestion that I never really got a chance to thank him for.”

“You could... thank him now,” Gladio pointed out softly, his tone gentle like he was trying to to startle her from whatever she was thinking.  

It was almost a full two minutes later that Coctura let out a deep breath.  “Meet me on the back dock in one hour.  I'll be break then.”

They passed the hour in relative silence, each doing there own thing.  Noctis was flicking a fishing line out into the water.  Prompto was busy messing with the settings in his camera and playing with various filters, the results he would typically share with Noctis.  Gladio read from a green covered book while Ignis basked in the sun on his thigh.  Occasionally he would dribble fresh water from his water bottle over Iggy's back just to make sure he didn't dry out.  While Iggy did want to explore he could hear the gulls calling back and forth to each other nearby.  He wasn't leaving the safety of his current perch under any circumstance.

About an hour later they were join by Coctura.  She seemed to be staring right at Iggy during her walk down the pier where they had camped out.  All three of them clambered to their feet to meet her, Iggy held front and center by Gladio.  She was holding both hands clasped before her, wringing them together slightly.  Iggy realized as she came to a stop right in front of Gladio that she was biting her lip and her eyes refused to look away from him.

Iggy stared back, unsure of what else to do.

“Thanks for this Coctura,” Gladio said.  It seemed to jerk Coctura out of her ravien.  She looked up at him, appearing startled.

“Um… yes of course,” she said almost shyly, focusing down at her feet for a moment before looking back up at Iggy.  She blushed slightly and looked away again as the blush on her face deepened.  He was starting to get a tad bit concerned about her well being.  This wasn't the threatening woman he had seen back in the restaurant but more like a shy teenager about to do something absolutely silly in front of her crush.  “Uh… may I?” she asked gesturing towards him.

“Go ahead,” Gladio held him up to her a bit and gave her a smile.  “Don't worry, he doesn't bite.”

Carefully she reached out to him, holding her hand next to Gladio's.  Iggy obligingly walked over onto her smaller hand.  It took him a moment to find what angle he had to sit on her hand to get as much of himself supported as possible and then he looked up at her to show he was ready.

Slowly lifting him up, and giving him an almost disbelieving look the entire time.   Unlike the other girls that had kissed him,  Coctura lightly pressed her lips to his unlike the other girls who had kissed either the top or side of his head.  She barely moved them against his as if trying to coax him to kiss back before pulling away after a moment.

Iggy was suddenly feeling very uncomfortable with the whole incident.

After a long moment of nothing happening, Coctura handed Iggy back to Gladio rather hastily.  “I-I’m sorry but it didn't seem to work…” she seemed to nearly be in tears.

“Uh… Coctura?  Are you alright?” Prompto asked even as she turned away.

“Just… thinking how misleading fairy tales are,” she hurriedly said, her back still to them.  “I'm sorry I have to return to work now,” before anyone got a chance to say anything else she was already on her way down the pier, dabbing at her eyes so as not to ruin her make up.

“So…” Prompto said dragging out the single word.  “Coctura has a crush on Iggy then?”

“Seems so,” Noctis agreed as he watched her head back up into the restaurant.

Iggy felt bad and wished he had a voice to at least to apologize to her for not sharing her amorous feelings.

He hoped that this would be the last heart he would break on this side venture... but he doubted it.

**Author's Note:**

> Iggy Frog's appearance was inspired by Jakface's picture found in the link below.   
> http://jakface.tumblr.com/post/162794738422/who-is-that-frog-i-see-staring-straight-back-at
> 
> HeyVikkiTime did an adorable little flash gif of hyper Iggy Frog from chapter three  
> http://heyvikkitime.tumblr.com/post/166673815518/noctis-you-are-on-so-many-levels-of-dead-when


End file.
